{"id":383768,"date":"2026-04-17T06:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/383768\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T06:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T06:13:08","slug":"anthony-archbold-gets-home-detention-for-drunken-rampage-at-nelson-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/383768\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Archbold gets home detention for drunken rampage at Nelson cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AnthonyAnthony Archbold hung his head in apparent shame as he was sentenced in the Nelson District Court after assaulting a man in a Nelson cemetery in January 2025. Photo \/ Tracy Neal<\/p>\n

The man, in his 70s, fended off Archbold with his walking stick, as he retreated to the safety of his car, uninjured but \u201cextremely shaken and frightened\u201d, police said.<\/p>\n

Archbold then returned to a quiet seating area and began smashing glass bottles on the ground, within sight of council workers tending the area.<\/p>\n

He then took off all of his clothing and started running across the graves naked, then started throwing items around in a rage, including flowers and pictures which had been placed near headstones.<\/p>\n

Police said Archbold had a plastic punching bag, which he used to smash areas around the graves. <\/p>\n

He was still running around naked, swearing and shouting, when police arrived. <\/p>\n

Sorrow shown at sentencing <\/p>\n

Today the 28-year-old Blenheim man<\/a> hung his head as he was sentenced in the Nelson District Court<\/a> to nine months\u2019 home detention on multiple charges<\/a> including assault, injuring with intent to injure, obscene exposure, interfering with a grave or human remains, disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence and aggravated assault on police.<\/p>\n

As Archbold was arrested and being placed in the police car <\/a>he spat on a constable, and headbutted another. <\/p>\n

The constable needed hospital treatment for bruising, swelling and concussion, police said.<\/p>\n

Archbold was also sentenced for possessing a cannabis utensil after police checked his removed clothing at the cemetery and found a cannabis pipe.<\/p>\n

He appeared remorseful during sentencing, as his lawyer Alice Zeimann reiterated the apology he had given directly to the victim during Restorative Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Judge Tony Snell noted Archbold had not shied away from apologising to the man, and to the police. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou were forgiven by the [primary] victim in an act of real community spirit and that person\u2019s Christian faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey commended you for coming forward and apologising directly,\u201d Judge Snell said.<\/p>\n

He said Archbold\u2019s acceptance of how bad his offending was, was \u201crare in court these days\u201d.<\/p>\n

Fractured youth <\/p>\n

Zeimann explained factors in Archbold\u2019s life and background that had contributed to his conduct, including physical and psychological abuse in state care and exiting mainstream education at a very young age.<\/p>\n

Judge Snell noted Archbold\u2019s positive pre-sentence report, including that he had not tried to justify or excuse his behaviour which had led to him \u201cgenuinely regretting\u201d what had occurred.<\/p>\n

He said Archbold, now a father of a young child, had commented that if he could, he would relive that whole day, and not be at the cemetery, but he couldn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyAnthony Archbold assaulted a man as he tended his wife’s grave at Marsden Cemetery in January 2025. He also damaged graves with a plastic punching bag he had brought with him, then assaulted police officers after he was arrested. Photo \/ Tracy Neal<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have expressed real concern and embarrassment about your behaviour and you have been open and frank about what occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sentencing a \u2018balancing act\u2019<\/p>\n

Judge Snell also noted Archbold\u2019s understanding of the impact of misusing alcohol and drugs, and how he wanted to remain sober and abstain, and the steps taken to address that.<\/p>\n

He had also been a reliable worker for the four years he had held down the same job.<\/p>\n

Judge Snell said he needed to balance this against the offending, which had to be denounced, while also recognising Archbold\u2019s need for reintegration into the community.<\/p>\n

From an adjusted starting point of two years and four months in prison<\/a>, Archbold was given a total 30% discount for his guilty pleas, his attending Restorative Justice, his genuine remorse and background factors to arrive at the sentence of home detention with six months post-detention conditions.<\/p>\n

The conditions of Archbold\u2019s sentence included that he attend assessment for alcohol and drug relapse prevention. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs an adult man you now need to look forward. You owned up to this and you did that in a responsible way,\u201d Judge Snell said.<\/p>\n

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ\u2019s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Archbold hung his head in apparent shame as he was sentenced in the Nelson District Court after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8791,199222,1975,49124,20556,108248,2082,6276,28163,1345,4505,91,111,139,69,199223,137333,213,23333,19054,20424,6746,143302],"class_list":{"0":"post-383768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-anthony","9":"tag-archbold","10":"tag-at","11":"tag-cemetery","12":"tag-detention","13":"tag-drunken","14":"tag-for","15":"tag-gets","16":"tag-grave","17":"tag-home","18":"tag-moment","19":"tag-nelson","20":"tag-new-zealand","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-rampage","24":"tag-solemn","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-suddenly","27":"tag-turned","28":"tag-violent","29":"tag-visiting","30":"tag-wifes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}